The present invention relates to a mine with trip wires, comprising a hollow body containing a plurality of trip wires, each trip wire rolled onto a reel, and an automatic ejection system for said trip wires. The automatic ejection system comprises a device to create an opening in one wall of the body of the mine, a projectile attached to one free end of each trip wire, and means for ejecting the projectiles through the opening in the body of the mine, with simultaneous unreeling of the wires wound on the reels.
A mine of the type outlined above is generally launched by a vector, such as a filling shell or the like, and generally has two plane parallel faces connected by a cylindrical wall, so that it rests flat on the ground on one of its two faces after launching. Once the mine has come to rest on the ground, the trip wires are deployed by the automatic ejection system, making the mine operational, so that it is capable of detonating if a foreign body contacts or strikes one of the trip wires.
A mine of this type is described in particular in document DE-37 13424, wherein the opening through which the projectiles are ejected comprises a plurality of openings formed in the cylindrical side wall of the body of the mine. Each opening opens into a recess in which the trip wire, the projectile, and the ejection system for this projectile, comprising at least one compressed spring, are located. Each opening is closed by a flap mounted on the end of a pivoting arm which is urged by a spring to tilt toward the exterior of the body of the mine to an open position, in order to clear the opening and cause the projectile to be ejected as a result of the release of its associated spring. The arm assembly is held in place by a ring placed around the body of the mine, which holds the flaps in the closed position. Once the mine has come to rest on the ground, the ring is automatically cut, allowing the arms to move to the open position.
In document EP-0 389 852, which describes a mine of the type described in the above-cited document, the reel, which itself forms the projectile, and its ejection system, composed of a pyrotechnic charge, are integral with the flap. In this case, tilting of the flaps permits each reel and its ejection system to come free of the body of the mine before being triggered.
Generally speaking, mines described in these prior documents pose the disadvantage of involving arm-deploying devices located outside the body of the mine and therefore vulnerable during maintenance and storage operations. In addition, after these mines are launched and land on the ground, irregularities in the terrain may prevent deployment of the arms. Finally, the constant urging of these arms by the springs complicates the structure of these mines as well as the assembly operations required for their manufacture.